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Added sniper plate to left shin. I only used E6000, so I may have issues later on. If so I'll hopefully be confident enough to use super glue. I noticed my knees pressing up against the front of the shin, must have boney knees, so I'll be adding padding near the top to see if it can push the shin forward. I suspect otherwise I'll have trouble with the sniper plate trying to get under the thigh as I move. I have yet to add Velcro to the backs, but they're a pretty good fit as far as I can tell. Once I've glued the backs of the thighs I'll do another test fit. Hopefully will happen over the weekend.

Looking Good Mark. You should try and double snap every connection; it will ensure you don't come apart while trooping. You should be able to put your own arms on. Try putting on your torso armor first, then put on your belt, then put on your shoulder bells with biceps attached, then put on your forearms.

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So my latest crisis is the sniper knee. My kneecap pushes hard up against it even with padding. Is this a normal problem? I'll probably have to remove it and try to reattach it tilting forwards a bit. As it is its unwearable and would probably pop off if I try to walk around. I must admit I wasn't expecting this to be a problem. I must be a funny shape.<br>

Other than that, I've nearly go the belt attached fully, just waiting for some glue to dry. I'm not sure if it'll sit straight so when I test fit I'll be sure to post more pictures. I also readjusted the shoulders and forearm straps. Hopefully will pull everything in tighter. I still couldn't get the arms fully on on my own though.

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More extensive test fit with all the major pieces. Walking is easy, though everything makes noise. The butt piece keeps getting pushed out so will need some adjustment. I removed the sniper knee as it was giving me too much grief. I'll have to figure out what to do with that later. I'm fairly happy with everything else, the shoulders will need some attention where they attach to the white strapping between the chest and back. Right now the elastic pulls out a little, so I'll have to secure that too. I still have a lot of fairly minor things to do to get it all comfortable and any tips, especially with the legs, would be much appreciated. Other major parts still outstanding are, the TD, mounting fans and audio inside the bucket, both knees, all cover strips, shin Velcro, attach the button plates, get gloves with latex handguards. If I get approved after doing all that, I may go back and redo all the connections with double snaps. I'd feel a lot more confident once that's done, though nothing came apart in the test fit. Now that I'm close to being done I'll sign up to be a handler soon. I was putting it off til I was close to finishing. If anyone see anything off please chime in.

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My thigh harness and TD. I had to buy the screws for the TD online as my local Lowes and Home Depot didn't have the right slotted head type. I had to take off 1/4" from the pipe, but now the whole thing is right at 7.5". Right now I'm leaving both ends unglued as I'd really like to figure out some way of making it into storage. Also, if the screws somehow come loose it'd be nice to have easier access.

The harness works pretty well and once I'm done with final fitting I'll lock in the braces, right now they're still loose.

I also made changes to the arm and shoulder strapping, left forearm and right shoulder bell to bicep. The left forearm strap is now a lot shorter and the elastic doesn't bunch up when I bend my arm. The right shoulder to bicep has the snaps pushed higher up. When I was raising my right arm high, to put on my bucket, the bicep was moving up and pulling off the lower snap. Having the double connection higher and nearer the shoulder bell curve has fixed this.

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Yeah, my accumulated excess beer calories mean the belt doesn't sit well. The straps may well be overkill but they don't do any harm right now. If I continue to lose my gut at a decent rate I may just cut them off. The belt is a stiff utility belt so doesn't deform with added weight. It was really cheap on eBay but works well.

You may end up wanting to trim a bit off the tops of the thighs once you get a couple of troops under your belt. While the idea is to have the least amount of undersuit showing as possible, the way you are set up I can see you having mobility issues at the hips, especially around the groin area.

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Assuming I get approved for basic, I'm going to go to a few troops as a handler and see how it all works. I've tried to compromise between ease of motion and keeping the cuts to a minimum but I still can't completely suit up on my own. Just can't get that 2nd arm on without help. Plus the whole thing makes a racket when I walk about, not very stealthy. I may very well end up trimming the thighs more, but I'll wait for now.

Most people I know can't suit up completely on their own, with the biggest stumbling block being the snaps at the shoulders. On the set, the actors would have had costume assistants to help them get suited up. So that's not unusual at all. As far as making a racket goes, yeah ... you won't be sneaking up on anyone in that kit.

Somewhere buried here is a link to raw footage (prior to sound and other effects being added) of the Tantive IV scene. You could clearly hear the rattling of armor.

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Got my basic approval. Very happy to have finally made it. Will address a few things I know need attention, then will be submitting for EIB. Not sure I want to hear the official verdict on my build, but it can only help me in the long run. Thanks for all the comments, I'll post a fuller set of pics when I get round to uploading then to the new host.

Now that you have your photo posting abilities set up with Imageshack, I look forward to seeing your level 2 submission thread soon! Just as in your basic build, be sure to post up any questions or concerns you may have and we will help you reach EIB (and then Centurion)!

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The brow might be tricky to fix without pulling the helmet apart. Maybe if I grind away the rim but that'll be a bit nervy. I quite like how it looks otherwise, a bit more menacing. I hadn't really thought about it before.